The Madaba Map (also known as the Madaba Mosaic Map) is part of a floor mosaic in the early Byzantine church of Saint George at Madaba, Jordan. The Madaba Map is the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem. It dates to the 6th century AD.

History

The Madaba Mosaic Map depicts Jerusalem with the Nea Church, which was dedicated on the 20th of November, 542 AD. Buildings erected in Jerusalem after 570 AD are absent from the depiction, thus limiting the date range of its creation to the period between 542 and 570 AD. The mosaic was made by unknown artists, probably for the Christian community of Madaba, which was the seat of a bishop at that time. In 614, Madaba was conquered by the Persian empire. In the 8th century AD, the Muslim Umayyad rulers had some figural motifs removed from the mosaic. In 746, Madaba was largely destroyed by an earthquake and subsequently abandoned. The mosaic was rediscovered in 1884, during the construction of a new Greek Orthodox church on the site of its ancient predecessor. In the following decades, large portions of the mosaic map were damaged by fires, activities in the new church and by the effects of moisture. In December 1964, the Volkswagen Foundation gave the Deutscher Verein für die Erforschung Palästinas ("German Society for the exploration of Palestine") 90,000 DM to save the mosaic. In 1965, the archaeologists Heinz Cüppers and Herbert Donner undertook the restoration and conservation of the remaining parts of the mosaic.

Description

The floor mosaic is located in the apse of the church of Saint George at Madaba. It is not oriented northwards, like modern maps, but faces east towards the altar in such a fashion that the position of places on the map coincides with the actual compass directions. Originally, it measured 21 by 7 m and contained over two million tesserae. Its current dimensions are 16 by 5 m.

Topographic representation

The mosaic map depicts an area from Lebanon in the north to the Nile Delta in the south, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Eastern Desert. Among other features, it depicts the Dead Sea with two fishing boats, a variety of bridges linking the banks of the Jordan, fish swimming in the river and receding from the Dead Sea; a lion (rendered nearly unrecognisable by the insertion of random tesserae during a period of iconoclasm) hunting a gazelle in the Moab desert, palm-ringed Jericho, Bethlehem and other biblical-Christian sites. The map may partially have served to facilitate pilgrims' orientation in the Holy Land. All landscape units are labelled with explanations in Greek. A combination of folding perspective and aerial view depicts about 150 towns and villages, all of them labelled.

The largest and most detailed element of the topographic depiction is Jerusalem, at the centre of the map. The mosaic clearly shows a number of significant structures in the Old City of Jerusalem: the Damascus Gate, the Lions' Gate, the Golden Gate, the Zion Gate, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the New Church of the Theotokos, the Tower of David and the Cardo Maximus. The recognisable depiction of the urban topography makes the mosaic a key source on Byzantine Jerusalem. Also unique are the detailed depictions of cities such as Neapolis, Askalon, Gaza, Pelusium and Charachmoba, all of them nearly detailed enough to be described as street maps.

Scientific significance

The mosaic map of Madaba is the oldest known geographic floor mosaic in art history. It is of major use for the localisation and verification of biblical sites. Study of the map played a major role in answering the question of the topographical location of Askalon (Asqalan on the map). In 1967, excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem revealed the Nea Church and the Cardo Maximus in the very locations suggested by the Madaba Map.

In February 2010, excavations further substantiated its accuracy with the discovery of a road depicted in the map that runs through the center of Jerusalem. According to the map, the main entrance to the city was through a large gate opening into a wide central street. Until now, archaeologists were not able to excavate this site due to heavy pedestrian traffic. In the wake of infrastructure work near the Jaffa Gate, large paving stones were discovered at a depth of 4 meters below ground that prove such a road existed.

Copies of the Madaba Map

A copy of the map is in the collection of the Archaeological Institute at Göttingen University. It was produced during the conservation work at Madaba in 1965 by archaeologists of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Trier. A copy produced by students of the Madaba Mosaic School is in the foyer of the Akademisches Kunstmuseum at Bonn. The lobby of the YMCA in Jerusalem has a replica of the map incorporated in the floor.

References

Bibliography

Herbert Donner: The Mosaic Map of Madaba. Kok Pharos Publishing House, Kampen 1992, ISBN 90-390-0011-5

Herbert Donner, Heinz Cüppers: Die Mosaikkarte von Madeba. Abhandlungen des Deutschen Palästinavereins 5, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1977 ISBN 3-447-01866-6

Michael Avi-Yonah: The Madaba mosaic map. Israel Exploration Society, Jerusalem 1954

Michele Piccirillo: Chiese e mosaici di Madaba. Studium Biblicum Franciscanum, Collectio maior 34, Jerusalem 1989 (Arabische Edition: Madaba. Kana'is wa fusayfasa', Jerusalem 1993)

Kenneth Nebenzahl: Maps of the Holy Land, images of Terra Sancta through two millennia. Abbeville Press, New York 1986, ISBN 0-89659-658-3

Adolf Jacoby: Das geographische Mosaik von Madaba, Die älteste Karte des Heiligen Landes. Dieterich’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Leipzig 1905

External links

Exhibition 10 000 Jahre Kunst und Kultur aus Jordanien, The Madabe Map (in German) (PDF)

Article on the map and its Göttingen copy (in German)1999 (PDF)

3D Madaba Map of Jerusualem

Aharon Yaffe – The Madaba Map

The Madaba Map

The Madaba Mosaic Map at the Franciscan Archaeological Institute

Madaba Mosaic Map web page at San Francisco State University

Jerusalem and the Madaba Map

The Map of Madaba at the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Byzantine Jerusalem and the Madaba Map

Madaba Map at Bibleplaces.com

Category:Maps Category:Mosaics Category:History of Jordan Category:History of Jerusalem Category:Byzantine art

bg:Мадабска карта cs:Madabská mapa de:Mosaikkarte von Madaba es:Mapa de Madaba eo:Mozaika mapo de Madaba fr:Carte de Madaba he:מפת מידבא no:Madabakartet ru:Карта из Мадабы tr:Madaba Haritası uk:Мапа-мозаїка (Мадаба)

Coordinates	68°58′″N33°05′″N
Name	Madaba
Native name	مدينة مادبا
Settlement type	City
Motto
Image seal	Madaba logo.jpg
Pushpin map	Jordan
Pushpin label position	bottom
Pushpin mapsize	300
Pushpin map caption	Location in Jordan
Coordinates region	JO
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Subdivision type1	Governorate
Subdivision name1	Madaba Governorate
Government type	Municipality
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Arif Rawajeeh
Leader title1
Established title	Municipality established
Established date	1921
Unit pref
Area footnotes
Area total km2	39.440
Area metro km2	100
Area land km2
Population as of	2004
Population total	65,000
Population metro	83,180
Population blank1 title	Ethnicities
Population density blank1 sq mi
Timezone	UTC+2
Utc offset	+2
Timezone dst	UTC+3
Utc offset dst	+3
Elevation footnotes
Elevation ft
Postal code type
Area code	+(962)5
Website	http://www.madabacity.gov.jo
Footnotes	}}

Madaba (), is the capital city of Madaba Governorate of Jordan, which has a population of about 60,000. Madaba is the fifth most populous town in Jordan. It is best known for its Byzantine and Umayyad mosaics, especially a large Byzantine-era mosaic map of The Holy Land. Madaba is located 30 kilometers south-west of the capital Amman.

History

Madaba has a very long history stretching from the Neolithic period. The town of Madaba was once a Moabite border city, mentioned in the Bible in Numbers 21:30 and Joshua 13:9. Madaba dates from the Middle Bronze Age.

During its rule by the Roman and Byzantine Empires from the second to the seventh centuries AD, the city formed part of the Provincia Arabia set up by the Roman Emperor Trajan to replace the Nabataean kingdom of Petra. During the rule of the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate, it was part of the southern Jund Filastin.

The first witness of a Christian community in the city, with its own bishop, is found in the Acts of the Council of Chalcedon in 451, wherein Constantine, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bostra (the provincial capital) signed on behalf of Gaiano, "Bishop of the Medabeni."

The resettlement of the city ruins by 90 Arab Christian families from Kerak, in the south, led by two Italian priests from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in 1880, saw the start of archaeological research. This in turn substantially supplemented the scant documentation available.

Archaeological finds in Madaba city

The first mosaics were discovered purely by chance during the building of the new permanent dwellings using squared-up stones from the old monuments. The new inhabitants of Madaba, made conscious of the importance of the mosaics by their priests, made sure that they took care of and preserved all the mosaics that came to light.

The Map of Madaba mosaic was discovered in 1896 and the findings were published a year later. This discovery drew the attention of scholars worldwide. It also positively influenced the inhabitants, who shared the contagious passion of F. Giuseppe Manfredi, to whom the rediscovery of most of the city's mosaics are owed. Madaba became known as the "City of Mosaics" in Jordan.

The northern part of the city turned out to be the area containing the greatest concentration of mosaic monuments. During the Byzantine-Umayyad period, this northern area, crossed by a colonnaded Roman road, saw the building of the Church of the Map, the Hippolytus Mansion, the Church of the Virgin Mary, the Church of Prophet Elijah with its crypt, the Church of the Holy Martyrs (Al-Khadir), the Burnt Palace and the Church of the Sunna' family.

The Madaba Mosaic Map is an index map of the region, dating from the sixth century AD, preserved in the floor of the Greek Orthodox Basilica of Saint George. With two million pieces of colored stone, the map depicts hills and valleys, villages and towns in Palestine and the Nile Delta. The mosaic contains the earliest extant representation of Byzantine Jerusalem, labeled the "Holy City." The map provides important details as to its 6th century landmarks, with the cardo, or central colonnaded street and the Holy Sepulchre clearly visible. This map is one key in developing scholarly knowledge about the physical layout of Jerusalem after its destruction and rebuilding in 70 AD.

Other mosaic masterpieces found in the Church of the Virgin and the Apostles and the Archaeological Museum, depict a profusion of flowers and plants, birds and fish, animals and exotic beasts, as well as scenes from mythology and everyday pursuits of hunting, fishing and farming. Hundred of other mosaics from the 5th through the 7th centuries are scattered throughout Madaba.

The University of Toronto has been excavating in Madaba from 1996 until the present. Their efforts have focused primarily on the west acropolis where an open field has allowed access to uncover the entire sequence of occupation at Madaba from the modern period down to the Early Bronze Age levels. The most visible feature of this area is a 7.5 meter wide fortification wall built sometime in the 9th C. BC, with subsequent rebuilds throughout its history. There is also the remains of a well preserved Byzantine era house at the base of the fortification wall.

In 2010, a 3,000-year-old Iron Age temple containing several figurines of ancient deities and circular clay vessels used in Moabite religious rituals was discovered at Khirbat 'Ataroz near Mabada.

Hammamat Ma'in

Since the days of Rome, people have come to the thermal mineral springs of Hammamat Ma'in or Zarqa Ma'in for thermal treatments - or simply to enjoy a hot soak. After all, what better way to end a day immersed in history than in a wonderful, naturally warm bath?

Southwest of Madaba is Hammamat Ma’in, the thermal mineral springs that for centuries have attracted people to come and immerse themselves in the sites’ warm therapeutic waters. There is an excellent 5-star hotel operated by the well known Six Senses group here, which offers indoor and natural outdoor hot pools, a swimming pool and spa facilities.

Institute of Mosaic Art and Restoration The Institute was originally created in 1992 as the Madaba Mosaic School, and funded by the Italian Government. It was a high school which offered the Tawjili, the Jordanian equivalent of a high school diploma.

In 2007, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, under the Department of Antiquities partnered with USAID's Siyaha tourism development project, and a rejuvenated Italian commitment to launch the Institute as a 2 year, post-Tawjili program. The aim of the Institute is to be a center of excellence in the region, and to train locals on a scientific level to conserve and restore the many ancient mosaics found in Jordan. Students are also taught traditional and modern methods of mosaic production, as well as Computer Aided Design (CAD), Arabic, English, geology, and chemistry. Soon, students will also be able to transfer their credits to Al Yarmok University to complete a BA in Archegology with a further two years of study.

The Institute is located between the Madaba Visitors Center and the Madaba Archeological Park. Visitors are welcome to explore the school grounds and the workshop from 8am - 2pm Sunday thru Thursday. The school is currently working on putting together a website (http:www.imar.edu.jo) which should be operational in early 2010. Further, a short 2-3 hour course aimed at tourists should be available in early spring 2010.

Bani Hamida

A weaving project was started by twelve women of the tribe in 1985 and since then Bani Hamida has become famed for producing beautiful woven items in traditionally bright colors. Traditional ground looms, assembled using stones and sticks, are used for the weaving, and the products can be found at numerous outlets in Jordan and abroad. Visitors can stop by the weaving rooms, located in the village of Mukawir, to see how rugs are made. The women also make decorative candles.

New developments

Madaba has been chosen to house new universities and a new settlement operation not far from the historic city will house over 600 villas. Kuwaiti corporations are now funding the construction of new office buildings to be built in Madaba.

International relations

Twin towns - Sister cities

Madaba is twinned with: Bethlehem, Palestinian Authority Denton, Texas, United States

References

External links

visitmadaba.org

Finding Tell Madaba with Google Earth

American University of Madaba (AUM)

Category:Archaeological sites in Jordan Category:Populated places in Jordan Category:Moab Category:Torah places Category:Hebrew Bible places

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